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Church helps family get into housing

Family in need of household items, furniture

By Carie Canterbury

The Daily Record

Posted:
06/22/2017 10:06:17 AM MDT

Wayne, Marie and Abigail Brown pose for a photo in their home Wednesday. A group affiliated with First United Methodist Church helped the family to find housing and employment after they had been homeless and living in their car. (Carie Canterbury / Daily Record)

Wayne, Marie and Abigail Brown, pictured left and center, pose for a photo outside their home with a group affiliated with First United Methodist Church who helped the family find housing and employment. Pictured are Wayne Brown; Pep Aragon, local homeless advocate; Anne McClelland; Pastor Eric Feuerstein; Abigail and Marie Brown; Janet LeGore; Roger Motz and Laura Motz. (Carie Canterbury / Daily Record)

Wayne and Marie Brown, and their five-year-old daughter, Abigail, were living in Colorado Springs when Marie lost her job and they no longer could afford their $1,500 monthly rent.

The family ended up on the streets, but they quickly started looking for a safe place to stay — somewhere outside the big city.

"We decided to come here, as opposed to trying to camp in the Springs where everyone is out there and there are drug users out on the streets," Wayne said. "We decided to come here and camp at Phantom Canyon and start going forward from there."

Marie said their options were to either rent a hotel in Colorado Springs or use the last of their money to purchase a car that would double as transportation and as their temporary home.

The Browns slept in a tent in the Phantom Canyon area, but because of heavy rains and the risk of flash flooding, they ended up in their car most nights.

They were in Phantom Canyon three weeks when they met Pep Aragon, a local advocate for people experiencing homelessness. Aragon immediately put them in touch with the "Bar Church," a ministry of First United Methodist Church, that meets weekly at SomeWhere Saloon. The group was looking for a family to adopt that was in need of a family to be part of their day-to-day lives in a practical, sustainable way.

The group helped Wayne find a job at a restaurant and Marie a job housekeeping.

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"We wanted a deeper relationship, we didn't want to say, 'Here's a bag of food, see you later,'" said Pastor Eric Feuerstein. "We want to be in a relationship to support a family longterm, as long as someone in the family is willing to work, so it's not a short-term thing."

The church not only helped the family find employment and a rental, they also provided the deposit and first month's rent so the Browns could move in.

"The hope is that they will be able to eventually repay the deposit, and then it can be forwarded to the next family," Feuerstein said.

Roger Motz, a member of the church and the outreach ministry, said it's common that people who are experiencing homelessness don't have the funds to get into housing because they don't have the funds for the deposit and first month's rent.

"The whole idea of 'adopt a family' is to stay in touch long term — decades, hopefully," he said.

Aragon hopes this project of adopting a family will become a blueprint for other churches and organizations.

"To me, this is a miracle, it happened in just three weeks," she said. "If we can get people into housing somewhere and let them start their lives — what could be simpler?."

Wayne said now that they're getting back on their feet, he'd eventually like to help the Bar Church help other families in need.

Marie encourages people to not "judge a book by its cover" when they see individuals and families who are homeless.

"A lot of people see someone panhandling and they think all they're doing is drugs," she said. "A lot of people just really need help or they need someone to listen to them and understand."

The couple eventually would like to own and operate their own handmade jewelry shop one day, and they would like to finish writing a novel they started writing several years ago.

The Brown family now has a home, but they are in need of a large toddler or twin-sized bed and a queen-sized bed; dressers; a room divider; pots, pans and cooking utensils; eating utensils and knives; a microwave; a book shelf; bed sheets and towels; an area rug for the living room; small living room tables; and a laptop or tablet for homeschooling.

Anyone wishing to donate furniture and household items to the family may contact Aragon at 719-275-7241.

Aragon also has more families in need of assistance getting into housing. Other churches or organizations who would like to adopt a family also may call Aragon at the same number.

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